1. Technical Field
The present disclosure is directed to advantageous systems and methods for utilizing biochar as a feedstock to produce desirable end products. More particularly, the present disclosure provides systems/methods for producing and selecting plant species, cultivating, harvesting, handling and treating of the biomass of those plant species, and producing biochar from said biomass with desired properties, processing such biochar according to advantageous processing conditions/parameters, and forming desired end products from the processed biochar, e.g., using “net shape” technology. Among the desirable end products that may be produced according to the disclosed systems/methods are ultra-capacitor electrodes, electric battery electrodes and electric battery electrode support materials and the like.
2. Background Art
The ability to store electric energy in large amounts gives rise to great benefit when coupled to electric energy generated by renewable methods. However, the storage of large amounts of electricity presents major hurdles of cost, storage product or system total life-cycle, power density and energy density. Batteries can be used to store electric energy in chemical reaction-based systems. Capacitors can store electric energy in electrically charged plates. Each type of device (battery or capacitor) has advantages or disadvantages of energy density versus power density, total number of charge/discharge cycles, speed of charge/discharge cycles and sophistication of materials of construction. Disposal of the materials of construction associated with the foregoing devices is also a consideration in their selection and use.
Although standard capacitors and electrolytic capacitors are commonplace, they are generally not effective to economically store electric energy for large-scale use. Ultra-capacitors utilize additional components and principles of operation that allow electric energy to be stored in their dual-electrode design, thereby making them more competitive in the large scale, electric energy storage marketplace. Existing ultra-capacitor electrodes are made from graphite, graphene, graphene-oxide or other forms of activated carbon. Likewise, battery electrode support material is commonly made from similar carbon compounds.
Current problems with graphite, graphene, graphene-oxide include availability, toxicity and the monotonic nature of the materials. While the monotonic limitations associated with these materials can be marginally enhanced or modified with some compounding, the materials are still generally limited to hexagonal planar carbon structures.
Among the objectives of the present disclosure are new venues and uses of biochar materials to address fundamental material needs. The objectives of the present disclosure are satisfied in part by novel fabrication processes that allow the material inputs to respond to the fabrication process, thereby making a product that can be “tuned” and tailored to its use, e.g., as an ultra-capacitor electrode element or battery electrode support material. A further objective is to provide systems and methods that are based on processes and inputs that are “green” and renewable, including their entire life-cycle. Still further, an objective of the present disclosure is to utilize process inputs that are grown and harvested, not mined as is the case with current materials such as graphite. An additional objective of the present disclosure is to utilize process inputs that are predominantly collected from nature, not produced in a laboratory as is the case with many competing input compounds that are highly toxic, such as graphene and graphene-oxide.